Off Topic
2061 Season Snapshot
For the historical record, here is a main link to the 2061 Bikini Krill Prospect Watch overviews by position.
Catcher – 1st Base – 2nd Base – Shortstop - 3rd Base – Left Field – Center Field – Right Field – Rotation – Bullpen
I was happy to see the league went on a small Holiday hiatus because I’ve been wanting to do a little overview like this one and I knew it would take a little time. I wanted to do it, though, because when I took over the team the minors were in this weird state of “Not Empty But Not Full.” There were a few interesting guys, and most of those were not stars but kind of ready. There were holes, though. Really, pitching prospects were few and far between, and hitters were all borderline. Graham Aubry, for example, was down in AA. He was okay, but not anything to quake the needle. He’s been a solid enough player, though. When he can stay healthy.
And guys line Keith Williams were there. So that was good. But Williams is an upper-third kind of player with value, but not a superstar. Napoleon Mellott helped by bumping a bunch. But, to be clear, the minors (and the majors for that matter) had been adrift for some time. I wrote about that a bit in the end. Nathan Egan, the guy before me, was obviously a very good GM, but seems to me to have checked out several seasons before he left.
So my goal over these five seasons has been to build a bit of a deeper treasure trove of resources that has at least a decent chance to yield starting baseball players on the Atoll on a routine basis.
I think that’s step one in building a winning team, after all.
Or, really, it’s step three. Step one is to get a handle on the team’s finances and keep from over-spending one’s means. Step two is to find cheap, but workable players at the major league level that can at least tread water in the stop-gap years (and ideally popular ones to bring in a little more cash). Step three is to build a true minor league foundation that is operating in a controlled fashion. (I’ll say step one of that part is to build a field of coaches in the minors who can yield guys. And I’ll say I think I mostly accomplished that step a year or two ago. At least, unless someone retires this season I don’t expect turnover in the personnel for the first time).
Anyway, doing this review feels good.
Prior to trade deadline I said something about feeling like I was a year out of being able to trade away pieces of the minor leagues to really build the majors. Looking at this set of players I’m thinking that I’ll be able to do that next year. The goal is to trade from depth. To trade when I have a 1-2 player surplus at every position, and to trade when some of that surplus is getting older and more ready.
Its not that all five of these guys at every position is going to be a star. Or even a starter. But sometimes you don’t need a star. Sometimes you just need a guy who can play in order to afford to deal that one other guy.
You know what I mean, right?
Overall Grade?
To be honest, I haven’t looked at where OOTP puts my team’s system. To be even more honest, I pretty much never look at it. I suppose it would be interesting to go look at my prospect ranking inside the game and see how far off we are. Maybe I’ll do that after I post this.
But my personal assessment is that—while it took five seasons to get here—I’m pretty much right on track. I’ll give the system a solid B. Maybe a B+. If we could get some Nashville lightning to strike in the next year or two (or to get it to strike something other than the bullpen?) then we’re in good position to grow up into the A-, or maybe even Base A territory.
On my rankings, anyway.
As with all things prospects, though, time will tell.
Damn time.
For the historical record, here is a main link to the 2061 Bikini Krill Prospect Watch overviews by position.
Catcher – 1st Base – 2nd Base – Shortstop - 3rd Base – Left Field – Center Field – Right Field – Rotation – Bullpen
I was happy to see the league went on a small Holiday hiatus because I’ve been wanting to do a little overview like this one and I knew it would take a little time. I wanted to do it, though, because when I took over the team the minors were in this weird state of “Not Empty But Not Full.” There were a few interesting guys, and most of those were not stars but kind of ready. There were holes, though. Really, pitching prospects were few and far between, and hitters were all borderline. Graham Aubry, for example, was down in AA. He was okay, but not anything to quake the needle. He’s been a solid enough player, though. When he can stay healthy.
And guys line Keith Williams were there. So that was good. But Williams is an upper-third kind of player with value, but not a superstar. Napoleon Mellott helped by bumping a bunch. But, to be clear, the minors (and the majors for that matter) had been adrift for some time. I wrote about that a bit in the end. Nathan Egan, the guy before me, was obviously a very good GM, but seems to me to have checked out several seasons before he left.
So my goal over these five seasons has been to build a bit of a deeper treasure trove of resources that has at least a decent chance to yield starting baseball players on the Atoll on a routine basis.
I think that’s step one in building a winning team, after all.
Or, really, it’s step three. Step one is to get a handle on the team’s finances and keep from over-spending one’s means. Step two is to find cheap, but workable players at the major league level that can at least tread water in the stop-gap years (and ideally popular ones to bring in a little more cash). Step three is to build a true minor league foundation that is operating in a controlled fashion. (I’ll say step one of that part is to build a field of coaches in the minors who can yield guys. And I’ll say I think I mostly accomplished that step a year or two ago. At least, unless someone retires this season I don’t expect turnover in the personnel for the first time).
Anyway, doing this review feels good.
Prior to trade deadline I said something about feeling like I was a year out of being able to trade away pieces of the minor leagues to really build the majors. Looking at this set of players I’m thinking that I’ll be able to do that next year. The goal is to trade from depth. To trade when I have a 1-2 player surplus at every position, and to trade when some of that surplus is getting older and more ready.
Its not that all five of these guys at every position is going to be a star. Or even a starter. But sometimes you don’t need a star. Sometimes you just need a guy who can play in order to afford to deal that one other guy.
You know what I mean, right?
Overall Grade?
To be honest, I haven’t looked at where OOTP puts my team’s system. To be even more honest, I pretty much never look at it. I suppose it would be interesting to go look at my prospect ranking inside the game and see how far off we are. Maybe I’ll do that after I post this.
But my personal assessment is that—while it took five seasons to get here—I’m pretty much right on track. I’ll give the system a solid B. Maybe a B+. If we could get some Nashville lightning to strike in the next year or two (or to get it to strike something other than the bullpen?) then we’re in good position to grow up into the A-, or maybe even Base A territory.
On my rankings, anyway.
As with all things prospects, though, time will tell.
Damn time.